Prototype of a magnetic cutlery holder

Prototype of a magnetic cutlery holder with adjustable height, using a magnet developed by Serge Maudet, 1990s

Serge Maudet is a French artist and since 2013, the President of the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of the World. Each year he exhibits his work, specialising in landscapes and teaches students across the world. He was born with paralysis to his limbs. The Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Association (MFPA) is an international registered society of disabled artists, who create art with their mouth or foot. Serge developed this eating device, using a magnet so people with upper limb difference or paralysis could feed themselves during mealtimes. Later versions used a car aerial for adjustability. Like many disabled people and people living with disabilities, Serge and other Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, including those living with thalidomide impairments, develop adaptations for everyday tasks.

Thalidomide was a compound found in drugs prescribed to people in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although today it is associated primarily as a treatment for pregnancy related nausea, it was also prescribed to anyone experiencing symptoms of colds, flu, headaches, anxiety, and insomnia. Thalidomide causes nerve damage in the hands and feet of adults, but when taken in early pregnancy it causes impairments such as limb difference, sight loss, hearing loss, facial paralysis, and impact to internal organs. One tablet is enough to cause significant impairments. Researchers later identified that there was a link between the impairment a person is living with, and which day of the pregnancy Thalidomide was taken. UK distributors withdrew the drug in 1961 and a government warning was issued in May 1962.